Erik Johnson scored 1:49 into overtime, and the Colorado Avalanche rallied to clinch a playoff berth with a 3-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets in Denver on Thursday night.
Tyson Barrie and Carl Soderberg also scored and Philipp Grubauer had 34 saves for the Avalanche. Colorado (38-29-14, 90 points) came in needing one point but got a pair to earn the last postseason spot in the Western Conference.
The Avalanche, with 90 points, can move up to the first wild card with a win in San Jose on Saturday night and two regulation losses by Dallas.
Mark Scheifele and Nikolaj Ehlers scored goals and Connor Hellebuyck had 35 saves for Winnipeg. The Jets (46-30-5, 97 points) have gone 1-4-1 in their last six games and fell a point behind Nashville in the Central Division with one game to go.
Winnipeg is tied with St. Louis but has the tiebreaker over the Blues.
For the second straight game, Colorado fell behind 2-0 but rallied to win. Johnson ended it with his seventh goal of the season with 3:11 left in the extra period.
The Jets dominated the first period and cashed in for a couple of goals, the first by Scheifele.
After a blast from the point went wide, the puck came to the front of the net where Scheifele tried to jam it in. Grubauer couldn't cover it up and after a couple of attempts it trickled in to give Winnipeg a 1-0 lead at 10:12. It was Scheifele's 37th goal of the season.
The Jets got another one late in the period when Grubauer made a save on Jacob Trouba's slap shot from the point but Ehlers was there to backhand the rebound in at 17:50. It was his 20th of the year.
Barrie got the Avalanche within a goal early in the second period. He skated into the Winnipeg zone, held the puck and then beat Hellebuyck with a wrist shot high to the short side at 5:17. It was his 14th of the season, which is a career high.
Soderberg completed the rally when he scored his 23rd goal at 10:35 of the third period.
--Field Level Media
Winnipeg | Colorado | |
Nikolaj Ehlers 1 | Points | Tyson Barrie 1 |
Nikolaj Ehlers 1 | Goals | Tyson Barrie 1 |
Dustin Byfuglien 1 | Assists | Samuel Girard 1 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | N/A |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Connor Hellebuyck .921 | Save Percentage | Philipp Grubauer .944 |
Connor Hellebuyck 35 | Saves | Philipp Grubauer 34 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Winnipeg | 36 | 2 | 0-3 | 4-4 | 8 | 23 |
Colorado | 38 | 3 | 0-4 | 3-3 | 6 | 28 |